It”s not very often that someone can say he talked a person out of jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge.

Gary Scheppke can.

Scheppke, a member of the Marin County Board of Mental Health, credits completing a certified course that trains a broad spectrum of people to identify and respond to mental illness.

The Mental Health First Aid course, advocates say, could grow to be what CPR is to heart attack victims.

The federal government has spent more than $20 million since 2013 to make the course available in local communities, and thousands of people around the Bay Area have completed it. It received financial and political backing after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in which a mentally disturbed man killed 20 children and six adults.

“You are far more likely to come across someone having a mental health crisis or substance abuse disorder than a heart attack or choking on the piece of food at a restaurant,” said Bryan Gibb, director of public education for the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, which manages the course nationwide. About 20 percent of people have a mental health issue. Less than 1 percent have a heart attack each year.

The California Department of Education received a $1.9 million grant last fall to offer a version of the course that is geared toward teachers, principals, bus drivers and others who work with school-age children to help identify and provide early intervention of mental disorders.

Today, grants totaling $8.6 million are available to state and local governments, universities and nonprofits that want to teach the course. Congress is looking at spending another $19 million to help fund the program in the upcoming budget, while first lady Michelle Obama last month touted the program as a key to “flipping the script” on the national dialogue on mental health.

The eight-hour course teaches how to identify symptoms such as depression and how and when to intervene. It is typically offered through county behavioral health departments to a variety of public service, educational and nonprofit workers, and in some cases to the general public.

“We”ve taught more than 350,000 nationwide, and we”ll teach at least half of that in the next year,” Gibb said. “Our goal of teaching 3 million in five years is quite achievable, with the federal and state support that”s coming in.”

According to mental health officials, Alameda County has trained about 1,200 people. In Contra Costa County, behavioral and children”s health system workers started receiving the training over the past year, and the nonprofit Discovery Counseling Center in Danville offers it free to low-income trainees.

The course provides interactive and role-playing exercises that help participants empathize with people with mental disorders, said Discovery”s executive director, Kathy Chiverton. Often it can take a decade from when the first symptoms of mental illness show up to when people receive treatment, so early intervention is crucial, she said.

Santa Clara and San Mateo counties also started offering the class a few years ago. In San Mateo it is taught in several languages, including Spanish, Tagalog, Samoan and Tongan, said Jei Africa, director of the county Behavioral Health and Recovery Services” Office of Diversity and Equity.

“What we are doing is paying attention to the cultural nuances — so it”s not ”one-size-fits-all” teaching,” Africa said.

Eddy Alvarez, a mental health worker in Santa Clara County, said the stigma of mental illness can be greater in immigrant communities than in the general population.

For instance, in the Filipino-American community, Alvarez says he has seen how mental illness can be viewed as fated by one”s ancestors. Some in the community will go to see a “medicine man” rather than a mental health professional in hopes of fixing the problem, he said.

“They”ll think: ”Some spirits have invaded your mind and are trying to control you,”” he said. “Or, ”He has a hex on him.””

Scheppke, of the Marin County Board of Mental Health, said the course teaches lifesaving tips on how to talk to a person undergoing a mental crisis.

“It”s basically learning a specialized method of conversation,” he said. “The real key is to listen and talk to the person in positive terms.”

In his encounter on the Golden Gate Bridge, Scheppke followed the course”s five-step plan, which starts with assessing the risk of suicide and listening — and then giving reassurance and information on resources, and encouraging appropriate professional help, self-help and other support strategies. Scheppke said he leaned on his training to ask the woman direct questions in a calm, nonjudgmental way about whether she was contemplating suicide and what her plans were.

Scheppke listened empathetically and gained her trust, and she agreed to let him drive her to a nearby hospital for help.

Rusty Selix, executive director of California Council of Community Mental Health Agencies, said the need for prevention and early intervention of mental health issues has always been there. But a threefold increase in calls to suicide prevention hotlines statewide in the past four years makes the program and others like it even more of an imperative.

The MFHA course is “a proven, very inexpensive program that needs to expand,” he said.

But the course is not a cure-all, said Gina Ehlert, a national trainer.

“We tell people if you feel uncomfortable or in over your head, don”t intervene,” she said. “We encourage good listening and empathizing, but you”re not a superhero.”

It”s not very often that someone can say he talked a person out of jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge.

Gary Scheppke can.

Scheppke, a member of the Marin County Board of Mental Health, credits completing a certified course that trains a broad spectrum of people to identify and respond to mental illness.

The Mental Health First Aid course, advocates say, could grow to be what CPR is to heart attack victims.

The federal government has spent more than $20 million since 2013 to make the course available in local communities, and thousands of people around the Bay Area have completed it. It received financial and political backing after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in which a mentally disturbed man killed 20 children and six adults.

“You are far more likely to come across someone having a mental health crisis or substance abuse disorder than a heart attack or choking on the piece of food at a restaurant,” said Bryan Gibb, director of public education for the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, which manages the course nationwide. About 20 percent of people have a mental health issue. Less than 1 percent have a heart attack each year.

The California Department of Education received a $1.9 million grant last fall to offer a version of the course that is geared toward teachers, principals, bus drivers and others who work with school-age children to help identify and provide early intervention of mental disorders.

Today, grants totaling $8.6 million are available to state and local governments, universities and nonprofits that want to teach the course. Congress is looking at spending another $19 million to help fund the program in the upcoming budget, while first lady Michelle Obama last month touted the program as a key to “flipping the script” on the national dialogue on mental health.

The eight-hour course teaches how to identify symptoms such as depression and how and when to intervene. It is typically offered through county behavioral health departments to a variety of public service, educational and nonprofit workers, and in some cases to the general public.

“We”ve taught more than 350,000 nationwide, and we”ll teach at least half of that in the next year,” Gibb said. “Our goal of teaching 3 million in five years is quite achievable, with the federal and state support that”s coming in.”

According to mental health officials, Alameda County has trained about 1,200 people. In Contra Costa County, behavioral and children”s health system workers started receiving the training over the past year, and the nonprofit Discovery Counseling Center in Danville offers it free to low-income trainees.

The course provides interactive and role-playing exercises that help participants empathize with people with mental disorders, said Discovery”s executive director, Kathy Chiverton. Often it can take a decade from when the first symptoms of mental illness show up to when people receive treatment, so early intervention is crucial, she said.

Santa Clara and San Mateo counties also started offering the class a few years ago. In San Mateo it is taught in several languages, including Spanish, Tagalog, Samoan and Tongan, said Jei Africa, director of the county Behavioral Health and Recovery Services” Office of Diversity and Equity.

“What we are doing is paying attention to the cultural nuances — so it”s not ”one-size-fits-all” teaching,” Africa said.

Eddy Alvarez, a mental health worker in Santa Clara County, said the stigma of mental illness can be greater in immigrant communities than in the general population.

For instance, in the Filipino-American community, Alvarez says he has seen how mental illness can be viewed as fated by one”s ancestors. Some in the community will go to see a “medicine man” rather than a mental health professional in hopes of fixing the problem, he said.

“They”ll think: ”Some spirits have invaded your mind and are trying to control you,”” he said. “Or, ”He has a hex on him.””

Scheppke, of the Marin County Board of Mental Health, said the course teaches lifesaving tips on how to talk to a person undergoing a mental crisis.

“It”s basically learning a specialized method of conversation,” he said. “The real key is to listen and talk to the person in positive terms.”

In his encounter on the Golden Gate Bridge, Scheppke followed the course”s five-step plan, which starts with assessing the risk of suicide and listening — and then giving reassurance and information on resources, and encouraging appropriate professional help, self-help and other support strategies. Scheppke said he leaned on his training to ask the woman direct questions in a calm, nonjudgmental way about whether she was contemplating suicide and what her plans were.

Scheppke listened empathetically and gained her trust, and she agreed to let him drive her to a nearby hospital for help.

Rusty Selix, executive director of California Council of Community Mental Health Agencies, said the need for prevention and early intervention of mental health issues has always been there. But a threefold increase in calls to suicide prevention hotlines statewide in the past four years makes the program and others like it even more of an imperative.

The MFHA course is “a proven, very inexpensive program that needs to expand,” he said.

But the course is not a cure-all, said Gina Ehlert, a national trainer.

“We tell people if you feel uncomfortable or in over your head, don”t intervene,” she said. “We encourage good listening and empathizing, but you”re not a superhero.”